5 Tips to Raising a Pro-Life Child
The sanctity of life can be a difficult topic to broach with young kids. Many parents find themselves wondering when that day should be and how to approach the topic. Pro-life children’s books can help take some of the burden off of parents. That’s one reason author Krystle Joy DeGraide wrote The Story of You.
5 Tips to Raising a Pro-Life Child
1. Hit the Bookstore
Pro-life children’s books are an amazing educational tool, and finding a good book about the sanctity of life can definitely give parents peace of mind. When it comes to books, you can usually enjoy the comfort of knowing at least several people have poured over its pages before publishing, doing their utmost to present this challenging topic in a helpful, age-appropriate way.
What’s even better is you don’t have to immediately hand the book off to your kid, you can proofread it and make sure you’re comfortable with the material. It may even be a good idea to go book shopping before your child starts asking the hard questions, so you’re able to give them a resource right away. Having the book already on hand will allow you to have control over how and when the topic is discussed.
Virtual Bookstores and Pro-Life Children’s Books
There’s nothing much better than the smell of a bookstore or the feeling of paging through a new book in person. However, when you have the specific goal of finding pro-life children’s books, you may have to do some research ahead of time to make sure your local bookstore carries them. Sometimes these books are easier to find online.
Reading together with your child can be a wonderful bonding experience, but if your kid is a more independent reader, you can simply add the new book to their existing collection. If they enjoy reading or are just curious, chances are they’ll take the initiative and read it on their own.
2. Instill a Respect for Life
As a pro-life parent, one of the most important things you can do is teach your child about the value of life. Show your child how to love their neighbor, and how to talk about and value people in a respectful way. One way you can do this is by teaching them to value people that some members of society may see as a “burden” due to disabilities or age.
Human value doesn’t stem from how much you can contribute, our value is intrinsic and irremovable. Exposing your child to people of all different walks of life can help them understand that everyone’s important and worthy of love, even when they can’t speak for themselves or take care of themselves.
Volunteer
Doing charitable work and volunteering can be a way you teach your kid that everyone is valuable, even when they’re struggling. This not only is a good way to instill pro-life values, but it’s also a way to help your kid be understanding, compassionate, and empathetic. The foundation of pro-life teaching should ultimately be based on empathy and compassion.
Don’t Wait Too Long
By starting to have an open dialogue about pro-life values early on, it will help prepare your kid for high school and eventually college, where they may see their friends going through an unplanned pregnancy.
Many of those who are faced with an unplanned pregnancy are strongly encouraged by role models and friends to have an abortion, and before your kid finds themselves being asked for their opinion, you’ll want them to be prepared.
Maturity Plays a Role
By the time kids reach upper elementary age, they might be ready to handle more serious conversations. At this age, kids are usually ready to understand some of the consequences of abortion, which may include feelings of guilt and loss, as well as depression. Of course, as you discuss these more difficult topics, it’s still important to keep your child’s age and maturity in mind.
Ultimately, you know your child best. On one hand, if you wait too long that may mean your kid will start to learn about abortion from a different source. On the other hand, as the parent, you can judge how your child tends to handle more serious topics, and use this knowledge to help you decide when to start the deeper conversations.
3. Use the Natural World
There are so many ways to teach from nature, and one hands-on approach that can be a fun project for you and your child is to plant some seeds. You can start off by teaching them about the seed, and how the plant inside of the seed just needs some time and the right environment to grow big and strong.
This is something your child can be excited about as they check on their seed’s progress until they see that first little green sprout starting to break through to the surface. You can draw a correlation between the fact that the seed didn’t look very much like a plant at first, but it had everything it needed to grow into what it was meant to be. This memorable experience is great for younger kids in particular.
Ways to Further This Example
When you talk to your child about their plant, and how it started off as a little seed, you can then bring up the point that if the seed had been thrown away it never would have been able to turn into a beautiful plant.
At some point in life, your child will probably be exposed to the “blob of tissue” argument when it comes to unborn life, and having the illustration of a seed in the back of their mind may be helpful.
You Can Also Visit an Animal Rescue
Don’t have a green thumb? You’re certainly not alone, and there are other ways to use the natural world as a way to instill love and respect for life. Animal rescues or farm sanctuaries often bring in small baby animals that are struggling and need some extra care. Visiting them or donating time or resources to them can be another way to help your child respect life of all shapes and sizes.
4. Walk Them Through the Stages of Pregnancy
At about six weeks of development, a fluttering where an unborn baby’s heart will be can usually be detected. It’s around this time that the first electrical brain activity may begin as well. What’s amazing is at this age, the unborn baby is only about the size of a single grain of rice! Pairing the size of the baby with important developments can help your child realize size doesn’t equate to value.
In fact, using seeds and other foods as learning tools can be a way to help a kid who’s a visual learner. You can walk them through an unborn baby’s growth, and their key developmental stages before birth.
Use Ultrasound Images
Ultrasounds have come a very long way, and some ultrasounds are so detailed you can easily see the facial features of unborn babies. When we talk about unborn life, actually looking at the different stages of development as the baby grows in the womb can make it more personal, and much less easy to dismiss. Even now, ultrasounds continue to improve and allow us a window into earlier and earlier stages of life.
While ultrasounds by themselves are impressive, there are even 3D and 4D images now that capture incredible details. Some ultrasound videos are able to capture an unborn baby having hiccups, or moving around. These videos are a great way to bring ultrasounds to life and bring a sense of personality and individualism into the conversation.
5. Be Someone Your Child Can Talk To
Before you can have meaningful conversations, you have to be sure you’re someone your child is comfortable listening to and bringing their questions and worries to. One of the most important things you can do when you’re instilling pro-life values is simply to have a good relationship with your child.
Parents sometimes put themselves under pressure to have all the answers, but what’s most important is living out an example of love and a listening ear.
Talk About Your Life Experiences Too!
For young kids, learning about themselves before they came into the world may be an exciting way to start a conversation about unborn life. You can use books or pictures to show your child what they looked like before they were born. You can also bring humor into the situation by talking about how they might have kicked in their mom’s belly, or what food cravings are.
Adding these personal touches can make the story come to life in a special and personal way. The Story of You, written by Krystle Joy DeGraide, is a tool to help parents teach their kids about how precious and miraculous life is. If you’d like to learn more, visit Krystle Joy DeGraide and order your own copy today.